Marty Should Supply More

At noon today, Sanders Theatre should be unusually packed for the final lecture of Social Analysis 10, "The Principles of Economics." Why? Because today, Baker Professor of Economics Martin S. Feldstein '61 will answer students' questions during class. Unfortunately, the questions won't be as entertaining as they could be. Students were required to pre-submit their questions so that the Ec-10 office could choose among the queries.

Shame on you Marty for trying to answer a year's worth of questions in just 53 minutes! Opening yourself up to questions (sort of) is fine, but frankly, once isn't enough. At no other point throughout the semester has Marty made himself easily accessible for students to ask him questions. He doesn't even hold office hours.

And don't think Dartboard hasn't noticed. More often than not, head TF Judith Li '94 escorts him from the stage after lecture, protecting him as he flees the premises. By the time curious students make it to the podium, God forbid, to ask a quick question, he's long gone.

The one exception was when Marty lectured on Social Security--a topic Dartboard knows is near and dear to his heart. He even stuck around to put his John Hancock on eager first years' lecture notes.

As reading period begins on Monday, Dartboard asks that Marty and other profs take stock of their undergrad courses. In your case, Marty, you're not giving your Ec-10 students enough time. These next two weeks provide a perfect opportunity to start crawling out of debt.

Dead Weight Gain

How are you planning to earn money this summer? I-banking? Consulting? Donating your right lung?

Pennsylvania has just announced that it will pay a $300 stipend to help families of organ donors cover funeral expenses to mitigate the organ shortage. Payments for organ donations are currently banned by a Federal law that classifies human organs as a national resource, presumably along the lines of the great Redwood forests. But Social Analysis 10 offers a different opinion in its Fall semester sourcebook, which will bring comfort to anyone with a newly deceased family member or friend:

"When demand exceeds supply for ordinary goods, the price is raised to suppliers in order to induce them to increase the quantities provided," counsels an article by economist and Nobel Laureate Gary S. Becker, and the same kind of incentives "would induce more people to allow their organs to be used for transplants after they die." Perhaps state officials read Becker's article before establishing the new policy, which informs the eligible families upon the death of their relatives if they are potential donors. Bereaved families could get to open the mail and read "You may have already won $300 !"